Explosive containing liquid air or oxygen and lampblack.



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GEORGES CLAUDE, T PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNOR TO SOCIETE LAIR LIQU'lIDE(SOCIETE ANGNYME PGUR LETUDE ET LEXPLOITATION DES 01 PABJIS, FRANCE.

PROCEDES GEORGES CLAUDE),

EXPLOSIVE CONTAINING LIQUID AIR OR OXYGEN AND LAMPBLACK.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGES CLAUDE. a citizen of the Republic of France,residing at 4:8 Rue St. Lazaro, Paris, in the Republic of France, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Explosives ConminingLiquid Air or Oxygen and Lampblack, of which the following is aspecification,

This invention relates to absorbent material for use in formingexplosives with liquid air or oxygen. Such material is usually formedinto cartridges, which are dipped into liquid air or oxygen just priorto use, and are then taken out and placed in a blast hole or otheroperative position. It has already been suggested to employ lamp blackas the absorbent material, but its use has been abandoned for the reasonthat it does not of itself absorb sufficient liquid, and has thereforerequired to be mixed with an inert substance of greater absorbent power,such as kieselguhr, which, although increasing the absorbent power ofthe cartridge thus compounded, diminishes the explosive force, since thekieselguhr is chemically inert.

lhe present invention is based upon the discovery that it is quitepossible to employ lamp black alone provided its density is about to0.26. Lamp black of this density can be obtained by the incompletecombustion of naphthalene. A lamp black cartridge of the density abovespecified absorbs oxygen with such avidity that on being taken out ofthe bathof liquid oxygen into which it is dipped before use it allowsbut a few drops of the liquid to drain from it; capillary forces alsoexert so powerfulan action that, notwithstanding the superficial lossesby evaporation, the distribution of the liquid oxygen throughoutthecntire sectional area of the cartridge remains substantially uniformup to the moment of explosion. Consequently the employment of aprotecting sheath or casing impregnated with liquid oxygen for thepurpose of pre venting evaporation from the core is quite unnecessary;the elimination of such a casing constitutes an importantsimplification.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

Application filed. December 20, 1913. Serial No. 808.014.

With the range of densities indicated above it has been found that thelamp black is able to absorb a weight of oxygen (more than four timesits own weight) greatly superior to that which would be suflicient forproducing exclusively carbonic acid.

It will of course be understood that the lamp black employed should belighter in proportion as the cartridges are of smaller diameter andaccording asit is desired to have a longer time available between theinstant of withdrawal from the liquid air or oxygen and the instant ofexplosion. Finally, it has also been found that the explosive force ofthe cartridge can be increased by incorporating in the lamp black acertain proportion, of naphthalene, say from live to twenty-five percent. In this case, however, the proportion of oxygen absorbed by thenaphthalene being much less than that absorbed by the lamp black, whileon the other hand the quantity required for its combustion is muchgreater than in the case of lamp black, the addition of naphthalene ismade at the expense of the available duration of the cartridge and ismore suitable for cartridges of large diameters.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United Statesis 1. Anexplosive cartridge comprising liquid air or oxygen, and lampblack having a density of about 0.23 to 0.26 permeated by said liquid.

2. An explosive cartridge comprising a-.

GEORGES CLAUDE.

Witnesses:

PIERRE HOURLIER, HA'NsoN O. Coxn.

